§ Sir R. Rossasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that comforts sent to units in North Africa on occasions do not reach their addressees till after a period of months and also that comforts parcels are in some instances pilfered in transit; and what steps he proposes to take to rectify this state of affairs?
1824W
§ Sir J. GriggParcels are despatched from this country to North Africa several times a month, and it takes on the average 30 days for a parcel posted in this country to reach the base in North Africa. The parcels must then be forwarded to units. Everything possible is done to speed up the parcel service but in present circumstances there is little prospect that the time taken by parcels will be drastically shortened. I am not aware of any general complaint that parcels are pilfered. If my hon. Friend will forward me details of specific instances they will certainly be investigated.